After/Life: Anger: A Paranormal Ghost Romance

by Scarlett Whispers

  He’d never been involved in a real fistfight. He’d had plenty of opportunities, but had always managed to circumvent the situation. He supposed it was due to his strict religious upbringing. On a deep level, he was afraid for his soul.

  Sam put his hand on the doorknob and took a deep breath. He exited the bedroom and came to the front room. There now had to be over a dozen men and women in full dress uniform.

  They each had a somber expression on her face, and those who knew him and Molly best offered him a small smile. Sam smiled back, but he did not make eye contact. None of the smiles held any real warmth, only sadness, and consolation.

  “The cars are here,” Casey said.

  The others filed out, a few nodding to Sam or touching him lightly on the back. There was no real way of showing how sad they were. They filed out of the front door and headed down the path to the saloon cars awaiting them.

  Casey approached Sam and put her hand on his forearm. He liked the touch. If he closed his eyes, he could almost believe it was Molly touching him.

  “Are you ready?” Casey said.

  Sam took a moment before nodding.

  “Yes,” he said. “I think I am.”

  Chapter Six

  To say Molly was terrified was an understatement of the highest magnitude. Now that she could see the guard up close, it was even more terrifying than it was when she saw it from a distance.

  She peered into its cowl. No matter how brightly the lights shone, no matter the angle the creature made when turning, no light penetrated that darkness. It was pure blackness, dark, and to Molly’s mind, evil.

  It was a shroud, a floating blanket. Nothing inside it at all. Molly feared to touch it, a natural revulsion that filled her from head to toe. The way a fly had a natural aversion to a spider web.

  The creature moved toward Molly, floating there, head tilting side to side to generate movement.

  Molly backed away.

  “Don’t run from it, dearie,” Ada said.

  “Why not?” Molly said. Then she turned to the creature. “What do you want with me?”

  The creature turned and headed away. Molly felt relieved that this thing, whatever it was, was leaving her alone.

  “It wants you to follow it,” Ada said.

  “What?” Molly said. “Why?”

  “Follow it, and you’ll find out,” Ada said.

  Molly looked back at the fleeing figure. She did not know why it wanted her to follow it, or even if Ada was right that it did. She certainly knew she did not want to follow it.

  The creature’s dark empty cowl presented no emotion. Molly felt instinctively she should indeed follow it. Molly wet her lips with a dry tongue and stepped forward.

  The creature led her down a series of corridors that Molly did not recognize. She wanted to remember where she was going in case she needed to return by herself.

  “Do you have any idea where it’s taking me?” Molly said.

  “No,” Ada said. “It could be many places. There is no real way to know. Not until we get there.”

  The guard turned left after right after heading straight on. Every prisoner they passed watched in morbid fascination. A small crowd gathered, following in their wake. They had fear, doubt, and more than a little excitement in their eyes.

  Molly hated the idea they probably knew more about what this thing was going to do to her than she did. Which meant Ada would know too. Which meant she wouldn’t tell Molly. Why? Because she was afraid to. None of which boded well for Molly.

  Still, Molly followed the guard. They came to a single regular door tucked away at the back of the building. Ada let out a sigh. It sounded relieved rather than afraid.

  “It’s going to be okay,” Ada said.

  Molly wasn’t relaxed yet.

  “How do you know that?” she said.

  “Because this is the Visiting Room,” Ada said.

  “Visiting Room?” Molly said. “But who is going to come visit me?”

  “It’s not like that,” Ada said. “When you go in… Well, you’ll see. You’ll see the visitors. They won’t see you.”

  Confused and more than a little perplexed, Molly followed the guard into the room.

  The guard stood before a large round glass dome, like a giant pimple on the floor. Inside it was nothing, just puffy white clouds. Nothing through which Molly could see. Molly thought there were meant to be visitors, but where were they?

  “What is this?” Molly said.

  The door shut behind her. Molly stepped back from the guard and edged toward the exit. She scrabbled across its surface but found no handle. She beat on it with the palm of her hand. She turned to look back at the creature. It stood side-on to her, watching her, but made no move to restrain her.

  Molly beat harder on the door, but it was no good. It was locked tight. She put her back to the door. If this thing was going to attack her, she wanted to see it coming. She wouldn’t be an easy target.

  Then something caught her attention out the corner of her eye. Something inside the dome was moving, shifting. It was the clouds. They were dissipating, disintegrating, filtering and fading out, to be replaced by smudges of greens and blues.

  It was the Earth. This dome was a kind of transmission unit, a way for her to see the world and the way it was.

  Molly looked back at the guard, who had already turned to face forward. It seemed completely unperturbed by the idea that Molly might try to attack it. But with the disgusted feeling in the pit of her gut, she thought that was a pretty safe bet.

  She edged toward the great glass dome. It was coated with the same crystal material that made up everything in this God-forsaken place. Protection, perhaps, Molly thought. But protection from what?

  Then Molly gasped. The image had shifted to a location she knew only all too well.

  It wasn’t like looking at a TV or cinema screen. It was more like the colors were rearranging themselves, moving out of the way and forming shapes. She could make out a series of black sedans pulling up outside a large building somewhere on the outskirts of town.

  To see that place, working and operating as it always had done, forced the wind from Molly’s lungs. Tears shimmered, stinging her eyes. She could hardly believe what she was looking at.

  Figures got out of the car, each of them wearing full dress uniforms.

  Molly clasped a hand over her mouth. Fresh tears sprang to her eyes, her throat constricting. Her breath sawed in and out of her throat. She could barely breathe. Sam and Casey had gotten out of one of the cars.

  Molly felt shaky, and she reached out a hand to touch the globe. The cowled figure beside her stepped forward. Molly pulled back her hand. It didn’t seem to like her touching it.

  That was what the globe protection was there for, she realized. To keep her, or anyone else, from touching it.

  Molly watched as the figures went inside the large hall. The orb rushed forward, and though Molly could not feel the rush of wind through her hair, she did sway a little on her feet. The view was rushing directly toward a wall. It would need to slow down or they would crash into it…

  Molly threw up her arms to protect herself as the image slammed into the wall… and passed through it without any trouble at all.

  Molly peeked out from behind her hands. They were now inside the hall.

  Chapter Seven

  The procession was slow. Sam sat in the back of the limousine next to Casey. She held his hand in her own. Sam looked out the window, taking none of it in. Neither Sam nor Casey had much to say that they hadn’t already.

  Every time a member of the police force died in action, it was a tragedy to the entire precinct. If the officer in question was well-liked, the police officers would come from every jurisdiction within the city. That was what was happening today. It was a sign of respect. Many of the officers wouldn’t have known her, but they would have been aware of what she had done during her career.

  The car pulled over. They had arrived at the hall. It w
as large, with banners hanging out the windows and down the walls. There were dozens of cars parked along either side of the street. With this many cops at the event, it was unlikely they would be getting many parking tickets.

  There were even a few local news cameras. They were respectful and did not bludgeon the mourners with questions. They were also dressed in black. They had done enough of these to know how to speak to the police officers. Many of the officers glared at the news people but did not want to cause a ruckus, not on this day.

  Both sides needed to be respectful, and so each was forced into a kind of stalemate. No doubt their bosses had sent them here for a story, thinly veiled as a way for them to give coverage to a decorated hero.

  Very few of the police officers spoke to the newscasters. But then, the journalists weren’t all that interested in their opinion anyway. They were interested only in speaking with Sam, who was deftly escorted past them by Casey, and into the hall.

  The only other person the media were interested in hearing from was Superintendent Myers. They would get a few good quotes from his speech, about how Molly had served with bravery and diligence, that her death was a real loss to the city and precinct.

  Not many officers died in the line of duty. With lack of practice, the superintendent was not a naturally gifted spokesman. He recycled the same speech each time one of these events required his attention.

  Sam suspected the news articles were already written in any case. Copied and pasted from the last officer who had died. There are only so many things you could say about any individual person, Sam supposed. Especially when their life was cut so tragically short.

  Sam wasn’t offended. He knew the superintendent’s job was difficult. This was one of his many official tasks. When the superintendent finished, Sam was one of the first to clap his hands. The other officers clapped along with him. The superintendent descended the steps with some dignity.

  “Next, we going to hear from Sam, Molly’s boyfriend,” the priest said.

  Finally, it was Sam’s turn to give a speech. Casey lay her hand on Sam’s leg and gave him a smile of confidence. Sam got to his feet and climbed the steps to the stage. He moved to the lectern, where a shiny new microphone was waiting for him.

  Unlike most people, Sam had never felt nervous in front of an audience. It was a strength shy people sometimes had. They couldn’t look most people in the eye, and yet when they were up in front of hundreds, they didn’t bat an eyelid.

  Sam took out his notes from his inside breast pocket and flicked through them. It took him a moment to orientate himself. He looked up at the watching faces, expectant. It was a sea of black uniforms. He could say pretty much anything and would have been forgiven on the grounds of bereavement.

  A smile twitched his lips. He imagined what Molly might say in such a situation. None of it he’d be able to use here. He got a feeling of someone watching him, up high in the rafters, just beyond the balcony.

  But no one was there. And yet, for some reason, he felt some relief.

  He hunkered back down over his notes and began his speech.

  “Molly was one of the bravest, most decent people I’ve ever met,” Sam said. “But then I would say that, wouldn’t I? I’m her boyfriend. But what you might not know is that I thought this about her long before we started dating. I was in awe of her. Every minute of every day she seemed to shine, seemed to be at the center of attention. What she saw in me, I don’t know.

  “You will never know how surprised I was when she decided to date me. I had seen her before of course—every guy had—walking down the corridors. She was hard to miss. She was always the one who would breach first when out cracking heads. She was the one who always took action, never expecting anyone to take the risks she wouldn’t first take herself. Especially when she could prevent any of her team from getting in harm’s way.

  “It’s a surprise to me she hadn’t been injured before. But that’s the difference between her and me. She was brave in everything she ever did. She had interest only in what she thought was right. A constant beacon of hope for what was true and honest. Especially when it came to her own life. She was brave too when she went to capture Wayne Lopez.”

  Now, the news crews had snapped to attention, hastily making notes of what was being said.

  “She was brave when she went out to the old steelworks to finally confront him,” Sam said.

  Murmurs amongst the congregation. This was confidential information that shouldn’t have been made public yet.

  “And she was brave when she tried to rescue me,” Sam said. “When I had been kidnapped and abducted by Lopez’s thugs. She was brave when she took the initiative to rescue not just me, but her friend and partner Casey too. And she was even brave when the coward Lopez gunned her down, shooting her in the back as she was making her escape. Brave when she carried me toward the exit, trying to get me to safety.”

  Superintendent Myers began to get to his feet. He was going to come stop Sam from giving his speech. Sam would be damned if he wouldn’t get to the end of it before the superintendent got to him. Sam felt a thick wad of heat at the back of his throat. He would not stop. Not yet.

  “That was who she was, and in the end, it got her killed,” Sam said. “Do I wish she wasn’t so brave? Sometimes, yes. Because then, selfishly, she would be here with us. She would be here with me. But mostly I don’t. She wouldn’t have been happy. I would have been. So now I am at a crossroad in my life, not knowing what I should have done, but knowing there are things that I would have liked to have done. I will regret them for the rest of my life. There was no need for her to die, and she shouldn’t have. But she did. Instead, we cowards are all that’s left.”

  The congregation shifted in their seats, feeling uncomfortable. To be sure, this was not the usual kind of speech they were used to at these kinds of ceremonies, but Sam didn’t care. He had a voice and it was going to be heard.

  Then he felt it again. The sense that someone was looking down at him, eyes that made the hair on the back of his neck stand up on end. And for the briefest of moments, he thought he recognized that feeling, of whose eyes they could be.

  He shook his head. It was wishful thinking. He’d lost his train of thought. He picked up his note cards and slid them back into his breast pocket.

  “I’m sure I speak for everyone here when I say to Molly that we’ll miss you forever,” Sam said.

  His eyes glanced once more up at the back of the hall. He stepped down and returned to his seat beside Casey. A relieved Superintendent Myers was among the first to put his hands together in prayer.

  Chapter Eight

  The colors began to fade. The figures shrank as the dome’s image drew back from the hall wall and then up and up into the sky. The clouds came in and obliterated the scene once more. Nature’s closing curtains.

  As the image faded, so did Molly’s hopes that she might get out of this place. She had ridden a roller coaster of emotion. None of it had changed her situation. All the experience had done was give her meaningless, painful hope.

  She was never going to get out of this place. She was never going to warn Sam and Casey about the dangers that awaited them.

  Despite all the shouting and hollering she’d done, no one had heard her. The figure beside her made no indication he heard her cries, much less cared about them.

  The guard turned and headed toward the door, which opened upon its approach. Molly stood watching the globe for a full ten minutes, unable to see anything beyond the thick gray-white clouds. She shuffled toward the door.

  Ada was there to greet her.

  “Well?” she said. “How was it? I want to hear every detail.”

  “Why?” Molly said. “It might as well have not happened. Why did it have to show me that when there was nothing I can do with it?”

  “It helps you to remember your loved ones,” Ada said.

  “So?” Molly said. “I don’t need their help to remember them.”

  “T
here’s a theory,” Ada said, “that if enough people have you in their minds back home, thinking about you, you can see them again in the Visiting Room. The guards have to bring you back here so you can see these people. It’s a weird quirk of this place.”

  “Does it happen every time lots of people think about you?” Molly said.

  “Yes,” Ada said. “But the longer you’re here, the fewer people there are who can remember you. The number of times you come here gradually dwindles. No one knows the number of people required for you to get taken to the Visiting Room, but it appears to be in the hundreds.”

  “Hundreds,” Molly said to herself. “That’s all it takes?”

  “It’s a lot,” Ada said. “To have that many people thinking about you at any one time.”

  “Excuse me,” a voice behind them said.

  Molly turned to find one of the other spirits looking at her. Her broad man-like shoulders were hunched, like a boxer. Molly was relieved it wasn’t another guard.

  “I feel like I’ve seen you somewhere before,” the woman said. “Did we meet somewhere in real life?”

  “I don’t think so,” Molly said.

  “Are you sure?” the woman said. “I could have sworn we crossed paths somewhere.”

  “No,” Molly said. “Sorry.”

  “Must be me, then,” the woman said.

  Molly began to turn away, to speak with Ada and ignore the large woman. But the large woman extended her beefy hand.

  “Jennifer Mills,” she said. “Jenny to my friends.”

  “Right,” Molly said.

  She shook her hand.

  “Nice to meet you… Jenny,” she said.

  Jennifer smiled a broad gap-toothed grin.

  “I didn’t catch your name,” she said.

  Molly, hesitantly, smiled back.

  “Molly,” she said. “Nice to meet you.”

  Jennifer nodded, but clearly wanted more than a first name. Molly wasn’t about to give it.